Traders Buy High Volume of Palo Alto Networks Call Options (NASDAQ:PANW)

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Monday. Investors acquired 39,260 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 58% compared to the typical volume of 24,861 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on PANW shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Barclays reduced their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $207.50 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $455.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.72.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $175.51 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $115.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.85, a PEG ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks has a 12 month low of $130.04 and a 12 month high of $207.24. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $191.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $178.30.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.99% and a return on equity of 23.36%. The firm’s revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.32 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total transaction of $21,564,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,744,323.20. The trade was a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 163,172 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.00, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,237,430 shares in the company, valued at $227,680,932.85. The trade was a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,030,906 shares of company stock valued at $191,569,355. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,656,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,609,486,000 after purchasing an additional 220,900 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,113,948,000 after buying an additional 3,249,594 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 8.5% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,243,457 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,099,564,000 after buying an additional 255,060 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,075,718,000 after acquiring an additional 1,050,173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,233,918 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $757,321,000 after acquiring an additional 114,742 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; and Panorama, a security management solution for the global control of network security platform as a virtual or a physical appliance. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention.